Europe’s animal welfare laws were introduced piece by piece over the last 40 years, but they are rarely enforced correctly, and there are serious gaps that leave millions of animals unprotected.
2021 offers a very important window of opportunity for animal welfare in the EU: In the context of the Farm to Fork Strategy, a policy initiative by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making European food systems fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly, the European Commission is currently assessing the animal welfare legislation to evaluate whether it is fit for purpose. A review like this is not only rare and long-overdue, but is in fact also the first of its kind for animal welfare legislation.
We must make sure a full-scale review takes place, that our demands for the best possible welfare standards are heard, and that no animal is left behind.
Source Jo-Anne McArthur / We Animals : The tethering of dairy cows is still practiced in some countries. With the tether around their necks, they are confined to a few feet of movement.
This is a multi page article- page numbers at the end on left.
From Stacey at Our Compass – Thanks Stacey: – Regards Mark:
Cattle Farming Is One of the Most Destructive Industries on the Planet
AUGUST 2, 2021
“Natural”: Humans are the ONLY species to drink breastmilk from another species and continuing past infancy. Do you understand why you and so many others are lactose intolerant? Because you’re not a calf.
This is what you do to them.Violence is so normalized in animal agriculture that many believe that subjecting animals to suffering, pain, confinement, and squalor is beneficial to animals: since animals are bred to be dead, any existence “gifted” is considered beneficial regardless of hellish treatment, violence, and suffering. It’s convenient for humans to define others’ exploitation in manners that is comfortable to ONLY humans. And the “existence” argument is an exercise in desperationandlogic failure. For sure, as a vegan who doesn’t purchase products tested on animals, I am entirely unconcerned with the nonexistence of those animals who are not “gifted” a brief life of pain and blindness and fear for toilet bowl cleaner.
Please also understand that even the “small/local” farms contribute to a global foundation of animal exploitation on which abject animal suffering and cruelty comfortably rests: it is all related, the required mass confinement and industrialized “production” and slaughter of 95% of animals globally consumed arose directly from those “idyllic” fantasies of Old MacDonald Farms . The promotion of “sustainable agriculture” is a fairy tale that already has been and has subsequently been discarded due to a billions-demanded source of cheap “meat” and animal “products”.
And if you want dog/cat/horse consumption to cease because it’s inherently barbaric, you must reject causing the inherentbarbarism of chicken/pig/cow/lamb/fish/etc. consumption. If you get angry at vegans for demanding the antiYulin corps cease causing the same torturous treatment and violent death of turkeys and piglets, just remember that when you eat pigs, you cause/sanction/support the consumption of dogs and cats.
The Amazon Rainforest is being cleared of an area the size of a soccer pitch every minute. Most of this is not for agriculture that directly sustains humans, but for cattle farming — to provide grazing land for cattle and land for growing feed crops.
When we consume the products of cattle farming, we might feel distant from these concerns. After all, why should someone enjoying beef in one corner of the world care about what is happening to a rainforest miles away? Yet cattle farming presents a serious problem for us all. If the Amazon forests were to be destroyed completely to meet our demands, the world would experience more droughts, a warmer climate, and massive flooding. And this is just one of the examples of how cattle farming is destroying our environment, placing the future of people and the planet in danger.
So what exactly is cattle farming, and why is it bad for the environment?
Despite a public outcry, the city of Springdale, Ohio’s Parks and Recreation Department has reportedly scheduled another “Goldfish Swim” on August 8, in which 1,000 goldfish will be dumped into a swimming pool with children who will be instructed to scramble to catch them with their bare hands.
Please urge the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and mayor to cancel this cruel event permanently.
Despite a public outcry in 2019 and a hiatus last year because of COVID-19, the Parks and Recreation Department of the city of Springdale, Ohio, apparently yet again plans to host a “Goldfish Swim,” on August 8.
During this chaotic event, approximately 1,000 goldfish will be poured into a community swimming pool, where children 12 and under “must catch them with their bare hands, no nets, no buckets or help from Mom and Dad” in the hope of taking them home. Being dumped into a pool filled with frantic children grabbing at them would obviously be a horrific ordeal for these tiny animals, who view nearly everything as a predator—and exposure to even trace amounts of chlorine can cause them to experience respiratory distress. Furthermore, because fish can transmit bacteria such as E. coli, such events pose a risk to the children, too. These animals need your help now!
Please urge Springdale’s Parks and Recreation Department and the city’s mayor to cancel this cruel event permanently—then, forward this alert to everyone you know.
Polite comments can be sent to the following individuals:
Brutal cruelty to animals-House pigeon equipped with fish hooks:
The colleagues from the association “City pigeons” Buchholz e.V. were notified of a live house pigeon that had been prepared with four fish hooks.
The razor-sharp hooks were anchored in the bird’s skin. The animal was found in the city center of Buchholz (Harburg district, Lower Saxony) and fortunately survived the ordeal largely unscathed.
Such “kamikaze pigeons” are usually used to kill peregrine falcons or hawks.
Suspects are mostly pigeon keepers who see the protected birds of prey as competitors for their hobby – namely races.
Anyone who has information in a specific case from Buchholz – for example on the possible origin of the pedigree pigeon used – is welcome to contact Buchholz city pigeons or the committee against bird murder.
And I mean…These are the same people who were concentration camp guards 80 years ago, that is to say, sadists.
They don’t keep pigeons out of love for animals but for reasons of prestige. If one of them doesn’t work, they’ll probably have their neck twisted on the spot.
I have two lolonies of pigeons in my city that I feed since two years every day- it is about 150 animals
It’s illegal in Germany, but I and my clients don’t give a shit.
But even worse than the hostile law against the pigeons is a hateful society against these peaceful animals, which calls the pigeons “Flying Rates”!
And the children of this society, the small children who learned from home “we go hunting pigeons” and terrorize the animals with kicks in places where they can get something to eat.
Obviously a moral change in society’s consciousness is not subject to an evolutionary autopilot.
In other words: what we did not understand centuries ago, we cannot understand today either.
That animals are not our slaves, not our food, not our objects of torture.
Today we are living the greatest apartheid system of all time, making the most intensive use of all technical and scientific possibilities: everything for the well-being of people and everything for the exploitation of animals.
A red fox named Cropper was found on the side of a road and rescued by The Fox Project in Turnbridge Wells in England.
Due to being badly injured and ill (toxoplasmosis), the rescue could not let him return to the wild.
For this reason, they just had two choices: put down him or find him a home. However, it was very difficult to look for a home for a wild animal.
Everything got stuck until Mike Trowler, a retired engineer appeared.
Mike said that he was impressed by fox behavior and spent his time dealing with them. For this reason, Mike took Cropper home and nursed him back to health.
In addition to taking care of injured foxes, he also helps orphaned fox cubs and fosters them until they can be come back into the wild.
During the time at his new house, Cropper was cared by Mike’s patience, love and determination and became a member of Mike’s family.
He often stolen food from the dog’s dish, played with the cats and loved to curl up with Mike.
The two quickly formed an unlikely friendship and the video below will show you their incredible story.
Sadly, after six happy years with Mike, Cropper crossed the rainbow bridge in 2007.
Then, another fox named Jack moved into Mike’s house.
Although Jack is a wild animal, he is so sweet and adorable. He loves watching TV with Mike and taking a bath in the sink.
According to Mike, foxes should not be kept as pets unless they have health problems and cannot return the wild.
He also warns that fostering foxes takes a great deal of patience and you have to understand about their behavior.
Fortunately, it’s not just the hunters who shoot foxes out of sadism and pleasure. There is also Mike Trowler!
It is wonderful to have such an intelligent and kind animal as a friend and through this relationship a person will certainly learn a lot about the own live and how to behave towards other animals.
To be a compassionate person – that is what you learn from animals.
30.07.2021-A very nice comment on dressage riding from the German newspaper taz:
Dressage riding can no longer be Olympic. The horses are forced into figures that have nothing in common with their natural movements.
They are wonderfully trained, the winners of the Olympics +++dpa-Bildfunk +++
The German dressage team wins gold in Tokyo for the fourteenth time in Olympic history – and everyone is cheering.
“German dressage stars are unbeatable in the Olympic final”, it says in the “Sport broadcast ” and if the media has its way, “the triumvirate” deserves a“roaring applause”.
Applause for what?
For the most terrible cruelty to animals?
For the most perfect submission of the horses?
As a reminder: the dressage horses are not robot horses. They are living animals that have feelings and a will of their own. Horses do not voluntarily bend their necks down so much that their nostrils almost touch their rib cage and all they can see is the ground.
Because that is not only painful, but also psychologically stressful for escape animals.
In the wild, horses neither trot-like on the spot nor do they gallop sideways across the meadow with crossed legs.
As the name suggests, these tricks have absolutely nothing to do with a horse’s natural movements.
2.19 million people watched the appearance of the German dressage team on the state German television program on Tuesday – no other competition achieved such a high audience rate that day.
Did you, dear viewers and colleagues, have all the tomatoes on your eyes?
Winner in repression
Or did the television commentator’s lyrical descriptions mesmerize you?
Or, and that would be the saddest of all explanations, are you so excited about gold medals that you simply suppress the suffering of animals?
According to the commentator, dressage riding is “not the pressing of a horse into a template, but the careful development of its talents into a noble silhouette”. To formulate such a sentence, you have to be an Olympic champion in repressing (we say…or a complete idiot)
When the Olympic Committee takes on new sports such as surfing or skateboarding to get young people excited about the Games, it should also say goodbye to disciplines such as dressage, show jumping and eventing.
Equestrian sport has been part of the Olympic Games since 1912 – when the “Titanic” went under.
Instead of dropping the disciplines, we can of course simply leave out the horses.
The riders could dress up as horses and perform traversals, piaffes and gallop pirouettes themselves.
If they touch their collarbone with their chin throughout the entire freestyle, they will get an extra point.
And I mean…Wonderful taz, you really made a great review!
Who actually watches such cruelty to animals, which is also cheekily referred to as “sport”?
In the 21st century such “sports” should finally be banned. Incidentally, obstacle riding is an even greater cruelty to animals, because horses only jump when they absolutely have to – for example when there is danger.
Horses are very susceptible to suffering.
Horses have few facial expressions and no painful sound, that is their misery, they are dependent on special sensitivity and unfortunately only a few horse lovers have that … those who are loved by their riders like dressage horses no longer need enemies …
It is a shame that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is being manipulated by a powerful equestrian minority aristocratic minority and continues to allow animal cruelty as a sporting discipline.
A report by the animal welfare organization “VETO”
Many dogs and cats still live on the streets in Europe.
Even in Germany, the number of street cats is estimated at over two million.
Stray animals in Europe urgently need our help!
Their everyday life is determined by hunger, fear and disease.
Often their lives are characterized by fear, because not all people treat stray animals with respect. They are scared away, sometimes beaten and mistreated.
The hard life on the street is not the greatest danger for four-legged friends – in many countries the animals are caught and brought to killing stations.
In order to curb the population of street animals, many countries rely on killing stations. There they are cruelly killed.
Killing stations are a business: in many countries people earn their living by killing healthy animals.
Hungary, Romania, France and Spain are just a few of the countries in which street animals are deliberately killed – mostly very brutally, always undignified and senseless.
Killing Shelter-Romania
Killing the animals does not reduce the number of street animals, because for each dead animal another takes its place in the territory. An effective solution: castration programs. Without the use of animal welfare associations on site, the countless baby dogs and cats would have no chance.
This is why we launched our six-week Stark fundraiser for street animals!
Animal rights activists in Europe tirelessly take care of defenseless street animals.
They take them into their care or take care of them safely at feeding stations. Medical treatment, educational work, castration projects and the placement of the animals are also part of their tasks.
Animal welfare organizations want to change people’s attitudes towards animals through education. With information stands in public places, they inform passers-by about the importance of castration.
In addition to the animal shelter animals as well as dogs and cats from private individuals who can register for the castration campaigns of the associations, as many street animals as possible are also captured, castrated and – if the situation on site allows it – released again after the castration and in theirs Territories supplied.
In order to be able to realize castration projects, medical accessories such as anesthetics, scalpels, bandages and hygienic rooms, such as a veterinary practice or a castration mobile, are necessary, as well as a veterinary team and veterinary specialists.
To make it easier for animal welfare associations, the experts often support the castration campaigns on a voluntary basis in their free time, so that personnel costs are eliminated and only the material costs have to be borne – every saving protects the association’s coffers.
The cost of neutering in Europe varies from country to country as well as within a country in different regions.
The examples of Romania, Greece and Germany illustrate the differences:
Dogs: While it costs animal welfare associations in Romania up to 70 euros to neuter a dog, the costs for the intervention can amount to 160 euros in Greece and up to 450 euros in Germany.
Cats: The veterinary bill in Germany for neutering cats can be up to 110 euros. In Greece it is up to 80 euros, in Romania up to 50 euros. Castrations are effective, ethically justifiable, animal welfare compliant and responsible. The high number of homeless animals is falling without four-legged friends having to die for it.
Financial support for castration on the part of the federal states is rare.
In some countries, including Romania and Spain, instead, predominantly killing stations are generously subsidized in order to regulate the excessive number of stray animals in the country. There they are cruelly killed.
But their torment does not begin on the day of the killing, but long before that.
Each animal is locked in a small cage, surrounded by loud barking and screaming from 25 other animals.
No attention is paid, apart from a plate of food which is pushed under the door of the kennel and a shower with water to rinse the excrement out.
The animals remain cooped up until they die and are usually not euthanized because it is too expensive.
They are often beaten to death or suffocated with a cheaper syringe.
However, this is not only contrary to animal welfare, it also demonstrably does not lead to a reduction in the number of four-legged friends.
In other countries, such as Italy, it is even more difficult for animal welfare organizations to castrate by law. Castrations on street animals may only be carried out there with the express permission of the municipality.
Animal welfare is a backbreaking job that pushes the mostly voluntary helpers to their limits.
But the effects of regular castration campaigns show that the work is worthwhile. They give courage and hope to carry on – which is urgently needed despite the first successes that exist all over Europe and for which the ones mentioned here are representative.
The association “Stray Dogs in Danger” e. V. in Romania proud of its ten-day castration campaign, during which around 400 dogs and cats were neutered in the animal shelter in May of this year, but notes at the same time that it is essential to continue now.
We, the VETO Animal Welfare association, specifically support animal welfare organizations that stand up for street animals, do educational work and start castration projects. 💪
And I mean…In Romania the killing stations are called “Killing Shelter” or “Public Shelter”.
Because the dogs in the public animal shelters are usually killed after a period.
Dog owners drop their dogs in the killing station when they no longer want them and dog catchers catch street dogs and bring them there. Food, water, animal keepers and euthanasia are paid for by the state.
But in order to maximize profit, there are killing stations that sell the food and medicines on the black market.
Because it’s cheaper, the dogs are burned alive. On average, a dog stays in the public animal shelter for 14 days until it is killed.
Old, sick or behavioral dogs are much more likely to be killed … If they don’t starve, die of thirst or are bitten to death beforehand.
Romania-Killing Shelter (Public Shelter)
In Spain, many dog owners simply bring their animals to the killing stations (called perreras) if they no longer feel like looking after them or they no longer fulfill their “purpose” (hunting, alarm system, children’s toys).
Perreras are run either by the state or privately and are part of the hunting sport for many people: the former hunting dogs are thrown away like defective toys.
In addition to the Spanish galgos and podencos, other dogs – and many cats – also end up in the perreras.
For all of them this terrible place is the end of their lives.
Killing Station (Perrera) in Spain-Puerto Real
In Hungary every municipality has the task of catching strays from the streets in order to control the disease.
The dealers take care of that.
They are then quarantined there for two weeks. If there is also an animal shelter parallel to the killing station, the dogs will be handed over to the animal shelter in whole or in part, depending on capacity.
If there was no alternative like this, the animals would be more or less brutally murdered, usually without anesthesia because it would cost extra, with T61 (a medicine used to put animals to sleep), which leads to respiratory paralysis and terrible convulsions and death . Some of the animals would also be shot.
Hungary-killing station
If a dog is found in France, it must be “kept” for 10 days. If the owner does not bring his animal back during this time, the dog can either be killed or given to an animal shelter free of charge. Often the animal shelters are so full that they can no longer take in animals, or they can only choose the animals that can be easily transferred.
France-Killing Shelter
The “big blacks”, the “gray snouts”, the “incompatible”, the “hunting dogs”, the “list dogs”, all those who cannot tolerate the kennel, are the first on the killing list. (Source: Mediathek ARD / WDR: “Animals are looking for a home – France – law allows euthanasia after ten days”)
Every year between 9-11 million animals die in killing stations. That’s around 30,000 animals every day!
We live in a world where governments are banning plastic straws but funding the gruesome deaths of thousands of animals in killing stations.
If we called it crazy, it would be harmless.
It is legalized mass murder financed with our tax money, supported by corrupt governments and an unusable EU, which does not want to provide a responsible solution and justifies that … “Animal welfare is a matter of the state “.
We show solidarity and support for the animal welfare organizations that have committed themselves to this difficult but excellent mission … namely to save as many strays as possible from hunger, misery and the brutal end on a killing station.
My best regards to all, Venus
*If someone wants to donate and has problems with the link, please contact me
Killing Shelter-Romania
Killing Station (Perrera) in Spain-Puerto Real
Hungary-killing station
